Hampton U. prepares for season finale vs. Howard

November 20, 2013|By Dave Fairbank, dfairbank@dailypress.com

HAMPTON — Donovan Rose has had more enjoyable trips to Florida, but he embraces the event and moves forward.

Rose and his Hampton University football team got caught last Saturday in Daytona Beach in a three-hour rip current better known as Bethune-Cookman. When they emerged, exhausted and gasping, from the business end of a 42-12 loss, he would like to think they're better and wiser for the experience.

"All week I tried to prepare our guys for a championship-type atmosphere and what it would take and how they're not going to lay down and their backs were against the wall," Rose said. "Now that they saw that and experienced it, everybody knows what's needed. Some of our guys who normally play at a high level, didn't play at that level. They know, this is what it takes."

The Pirates (4-7, 4-3 MEAC) were outplayed comprehensively by the MEAC leaders and defending conference champs. Their task now is to regroup for the home and regular-season finale against Howard (5-6, 3-4 MEAC) 1 p.m. Saturday at Armstrong Stadium.

Rose said that there's plenty of motivation: Senior Day; rivalry game; chance to finish third in the league. The Pirates were picked to finish ninth in preseason and were 3-5 and eighth in the MEAC a year ago, so a third-place finish would represent major progress.

An upper-half finish appeared unlikely seven weeks ago, but the Pirates are 4-2 after a staff and offensive makeover, and one late Morgan State scoring drive from 5-1.

"Even with all the work that we've done and the improvements that we've made," Rose said, "I still believe that we ran into someone else at a different intensity level. They outplayed us for 60 minutes."

Bethune-Cookman torched the Pirates for 475 yards rushing and 557 total yards. The Wildcats held the ball for more than 39 minutes and converted 9 of 16 chances on third down and 2 of 3 on fourth down, more than offsetting 156 yards in penalties.

"It wasn't fancy," Rose said. "They ran the same two, three plays and we didn't stop it. We didn't keep the right assignments. That's what happens when you play a team like that. I think from that, in practice, we understand how important that is."

Offensively, Hampton managed just 216 yards and nine first downs. Freshman quarterback Bryan Bailey completed only 8 of 20 passes, with two interceptions.

"I thought they were the aggressor on defense," Rose said. "They put pressure on us. They didn't really sack the quarterback, but they put pressure on us and prevented us from doing what we normally do. Whoever had the ball, you saw a swarming defense — 11 guys getting to the ball."

Howard doesn't present the challenges of Bethune-Cookman, though the Bison has the MEAC total offense leader in quarterback Greg McGhee. He completes 60 percent of his passes and averages 260.3 yards per game, passing and running. Howard is in the middle of the pack, defensively, in the conference.

"It's HU vs. HU," Rose said. "It's almost like the Norfolk State rivalry. We're home. It's a great opportunity. We can't win the MEAC, but to finish 5-3 would be an accomplishment. I think they're going to be scrappy and it's going to be a very physical and challenging game."